Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

WP Engine is a Managed WordPress Hosting service based in Austin, TX. They was among the (if not the) very first companies to provide managed hosting services specifically for WordPress. Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

While they have lots of competition in both the basic hosting and managed WordPress hosting verticals, they are still the market leader in lots of methods -and they have broad name acknowledgment and advanced functions.

With the development of both self-hosted WordPress and website home builders, the hosting market has actually ended up being a super-confusing place.

I wrote a whole post about WordPress Hosting vs. Web Hosting. However here’s the brief variation: They all vary in services provided. Some merely have WordPress-trained tech support. Some offer services such as server-side features and staging for WordPress.

Then there’s a separate level of managed WordPress Hosting where you are not truly purchasing hosting per se, however rather services to keep your WordPress install live. Basically, a Managed WordPress Hosting service offers a menu of services tailored to WordPress at a higher rate point, so that the website owner can focus less on speed + security and more on the website content + functionality.

Every competitor in the Managed WordPress Hosting has a different offering. And there is no standardized “menu” of options, however as a whole, they all compete with conventional shared Linux hosting offerings and tailored WordPress hosting options.

In either case, that’s the field where WP Engine plays. It’s complicated, yes, however it’s important to understand prior to making apples to oranges contrasts.

There are a lot of WP Engine evaluates online, typically with user-generated reviews based upon anecdotes and personal experience. That’s fine however I take a different method. This review will take a look at the pros + cons of WP Engine in the context of all web hosting alternatives to see who it is a “best fit” for. Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

I have actually utilized WP Engine for different projects considering that 2012. I don’t utilize them for my main websites today (see conclusion), however I do have a current customer on WP Engine who definitely likes them. Here’s my WP Engine review structured as benefits and drawbacks.

Disclosure: I get referral fees from any companies pointed out. All information & viewpoint is based on my experience as a paying customer or expert to a paying client.

Pros of WP Engine

To begin, WP Engine does basically measure up to its pitch on its homepage where they guarantee “stunning speed, effective security, and best-in-class customer support.” Here is their promotion pitch video:

They primarily target websites that are moving from other hosting companies (ie, customers dissatisfied with current hosting).

Here are some of the big advantages that I’ve seen as a customer & consultant to a customer. Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

Speed and Performance

There are a great deal of variables that go into website speed, but the guideline is that the more intricate your site is, the more complex the solutions to speed ended up being.

From the box, WordPress is relatively lean and quick. If you are running a mostly text site with a few fundamental plugins and a few small images, you’ll be fine with a cost effective shared hosting plan from someone like InMotion, HostGator or Bluehost.

But few site owners keep their WordPress set up lean. There’s typically extra plugins, custom style files, lots of images, widgets, ads, types and more.

All these features integrated with good levels of traffic can start to decrease your WordPress install.

However a slow website doesn’t mean that you require a larger, better server. It does imply that you have to get smarter about speed. In some cases it’s as easy as getting a more effective server, however in some cases it’s more about caching certain resources in a specific order and optimizing your files. Simply puts, it gets complex.

Picture you are attempting to haul a trailer with a pickup. Picture your trailer keeps getting much heavier. It’s pointless to keep grumbling that your truck is not big enough when you might just have to eliminate the emergency brake, set up a turbocharger, revitalize the transmission fluid and combine your load.

The point is that WordPress needs assistance to remain quick as you grow. There are plenty of services … but either you or a developer should implement them.

That’s where handled WordPress hosting is available in. WP Engine takes care of (almost) all speed issues. They have personalized servers with very aggressive caching and even advanced “stack” than a typical webhosting. They likewise have trained support who will go into your WordPress install and identify the precise chokepoint to get your website moving. Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

They do not even allow caching plugins on their installs since they have actually such a personalized caching setup.

The intriguing thing is that even unoptimized WordPress sets up still do well on their platform since their platform does the extra work.

Here’s the speed test for one of my customers on WP Engine (who has a bloated style, extra scripts, a lot of uncompressed images, among other things):

Note the Time To First Byte and the Start Render numbers. That determines how rapidly the server returned enough data to begin loading the page.

Now here is the speed test of a standard WordPress set up. WP Engine not just gets strong TTFB times but note how similar the First Byte and First Render are to the Unoptimized website.

It’s good to have that type of speed right from package, and have it stay that method no matter how huge or complicated the site gets.

*Note that the other point here is that if you are obsessed about speed, you can get even much better numbers with WP Engine than you may get with other services given that you are totally free to focus on speed factors that you can easily control like image compression, use of scripts, etc.

. The last observation on speed, WP Engine not only supplies an incorporated CDN, however they also supply worldwide data centers in case your audience is mainly in Asia and/or Europe. Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

If you are trying to get top speeds without messing with layered caching plugins ” the WP Engine does exactly that.

Customer Support Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

Consumer support has actually been a core part of WP Engine’s pitch given that they wased established. After all, they are actually selling more of a service (ie, handled hosting) than an item (ie, hosting). It makes good sense for them to position a huge focus on support.

Here’s a screenshot from one of my very first contacts with support back in 2012:

Look at the response|reaction|action} time, that wasn’t an autoresponder either.

Now, the company has grown & altered a lot since then. They went through a stretch where they were getting a lot of criticism about over-promising on support.

That stated, the tough aspect of consumer support is that a lot of the judgment is anecdotal. Everyone has a story, however you never understand if the story is because they spoke with the one rockstar-vs-rookie having an awesome-vs-terrible day. Like I mention in every hosting evaluation, the vital part is to see if a company deals with support as a financial investment or an expense.

I want to try to find gain access to, systems, and understanding, all three need an investment of money, time and know-how.

Based on my recent interactions and research, they are doing much better hitting all three boxes. They preserve a variety of support channels (including phone for non-Basic strategies). They have a quick, trackable ticketing system and are offered all over on the site by means of chat.

Based on their guide videos and comprehensive knowledgebase, they tick the understanding box. Every support that I or my client has actually interacted with actually knew the great functions of WordPress and has had the ability to problem-solve on the fly.

The most excellent (yes, this is anecdotal, but still) experience was a three-way call between my customer, myself and WP Engine throughout my customer’s shift to HTTPS/ SSL. The rep was not only able to obtain on (and stay on) the phone, however he was able to expertly assist us “flip the switch” quickly in addition to looking after numerous issues (ie, uploading a non-HTTP sitemap and fixing insecure image links) within WordPress for us. Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

I’m sure that WP Engine still has support problems,particularly since their custom platform puts a lot of pressure on fast, accessible support (as I’ll display in the disadvantages). However they seem to understand that support is core to their worth and do make the needed investment.

Security

WordPress now powers over a quarter of the entire Web. That means that it is a prime target for hackers & malware suppliers.

But there is nothing naturally insecure about WordPress that is not an issue with all software application. WordPress has the upside of being open-source with a very large neighborhood launching updates & testing vulnerabilities.

If you run your own WordPress set up, the security fundamentals are fairly simple:

Keep your install & all your plugins updated

Only install files from reputable creators

Run a security plugin to lock down the most common brute force attacks

Keep a backup for when things go wrong

* Aside, I utilize JetPack for the last two. It’s made by & powered by Automattic, the industrial arm of WordPress.

You’ll notice that even though security on WordPress is uncomplicated, the duty is still on you to keep things protect. Just like having a deadbolt does nothing if you do not lock it, keeping your website protected is still eventually on you.

And like speed & performance, WP Engine essentially takes all those best practices and does them for you. They run automated backups to keep everything off-site & ready to roll back if something takes place. Given that you technically have an “set up” on their server (instead of an account), they take on a great deal of security concerns internationally on the server level.

WP Engine likewise works carefully with top security companies on code evaluations in addition to running their own group. They also make the warranty that if you’re hacked, they look after it totally free.

I personally have never been hacked on my primary/ or secondary websites (knock on wood), but have actually helped clients who have been. It’s frustrating, tedious & a generally pricey situation (even if you are utilizing a service like Sucuri). Having an expert security team look after your WordPress install is a big pro in my book. Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

Pricing on Value

WP Engine is not cheap. Their Start-up strategy is $35/mo and includes a single install and just as much as 25,000 visits each month.

For benchmarking, you can get an effective, trusted VPS (ie, your very own not-shared server) for the very same price from InMotion. And if you are just beginning with a single domain, you can get a shared hosting plan from Bluehost for simply a couple dollars per month.

Both of which permit more storage & more check outs (ie, basically as numerous as you can manage) than WP Engine. I have actually run websites that have had 60k sees monthly on a shared server. I’ve likewise run dozens of little WordPress websites off a low cost shared hosting.

But I’ll cover that rates disadvantage in the cons of WP Engine, but here’s the important things.

For some website owners, if you break out WP Engine by total worth & factor in your very own (or your developer’s) time, their prices is remarkable.

If you lose any visits due to downtime from a bad plugin upgrade, then that could be WP Engine’s entire month-to-month charge right there.

If you do a hot-fix (ie, you do not utilize a staging area) on your PHP code, and knock your site down … then that could be WP Engine’s entire regular monthly fee right there.

Losing visitors due to speed concerns or downtime expenses lost income.

Furthermore, premium security can cost about $16/month minimum. Not to discuss any individual or developer time repairing concerns.

Generally, if your time is better designated far from technical issues, then WP Engine makes a lot of sense on value. As a managed WordPress hosting service, that’s really their thing. Hosting services are a financial investment rather than an expense.

Which sort of value-based pricing segues into another pro for WP Engine, their focus on their core markets. Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

Market Focus

Like I stated at the beginning, WP Engine isn’t for everyone. There are 3 types of customers that WP Engine appears to be a suitable for. For those 3 types of clients, WP Engine has a strong focus with lots of tools & focus for each.

From their backend process, the very first client type appears to be WordPress developers and designers who wish to concentrate on advancement & style without dealing with hosting maintenance, and have customers who have some spending plan. The designer/dev constructs the site directly in WP Engine’s staging environment, introduces the site, then hands the site over to their customer.

The designer can assure their customer that WP Engine deals with the hosting, security & speed. There’s little requirement for an ongoing fundamental site maintenance. For this market, WP Engine has interesting tools consisting of staging, git push, website migration and transferable installs.

The second customer type is the growing website owner who is frustrated at having to deal with technical development headaches. They have actually outgrown their shared hosting and have to move to a much better host.

They’re also established enough that they have some budget plan for handled services. WP Engine has tools like the automatic migration tool & customer support to make that process occur. The phone support is a key element, specifically having the ability to “simply call WP Engine an have them repair it.”

The 3rd client type is a startup site owner that has the budget plan and desires a long-lasting platform that they can grow with. They are comfy learning WP Engine’s distinct backend and intend on launching a near-complete site all at once.

They do not have any prior practices or custom-mades brought over from previous hosts or sites. Again, for this market, WP Engine has the scalable features, clients, and support that they can make pledges and offer support to win & keep this kind of client.

With these types of consumers, WP Engine knows how & where they are originating from, so many of the enhancements they make are focused on these markets (ie, the Git push functionality), rather than mass-market improvements like knowledge-bases, intuitive backend, etc.

Hosting Features

This advantage is similar to WP Engine’s market focus, however it’s truly worth calling out in this review modification. Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

WP Engine excels not just on current functions but likewise on developing new, advanced hosting features. Every variation of WordPress 4 has actually rolled out new designer functions that WP Engine has had the ability to incorporate.

Even basic web advancement best practices have changed significantly since I started observing the industry *. WP Engine has actually developed tools to match.

* I’m an SEO/ marketer by trade. I understand adequate web advancement to incorporate best practices into implementation & tasks with designers.

Here’s a screenshot of WP Engine’s Git Push setup that has been around for more than 2 years.

Even for non-developers like me, WP Engine has one-click staging areas to allow even DIY siteowners to get away from “cowboy coding” into proper web development best practices.

There are too many other specifics here to name, but in general, WP Engine has a strength in rolling out new, useful hosting features.

Cons of WP Engine

Just like any service, WP Engine is not the best fit for everybody. There are lots of WP Engine grievances around the Internet. Some are anecdotal. Some are hyperbole (ie, SEOs complaining about dev websites). And numerous stand due to the fact that they just aren’t a fit for everyone. For all their awesomeness in some locations, they have some cons which keep them from being a good suitable for some customers. I do not utilize them for this website because I do not require a number of their features and I’m comfy “putting pieces together” w/ my InMotion VPS setup. Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

All that said, here are a few of the larger picture downsides of utilizing WP Engine.

Initial and Ongoing Complexity

To achieve the speed, security, and scale they guarantee, WP Engine does things in a different way. And that distinction can be quite complicated– particularly if you have simply adequate experience with hosting environments to be dangerous.

Their backend setup has actually gotten better. It’s cleaner, however it’s still custom. It’s nothing like a standard cPanel hosting backend. Unlike lots of hosting business, they also do not offer DNS nameservers.

Even if all the features exist, the special backend can result in some developers making errors varying from annoying redirect loops to duplicate content concerns to leaving the dev website available to the public or merely not enabling the functions you’re buying.

If it weren’t for amazing support, I think they ‘d lose more newbie consumers than they currently do.

Like numerous customized platforms, it makes sense once you overcome the learning curve. However WP Engine’s onboarding is really developer-focused & remains so exception-focused that they never ever discuss best practice for the general user. Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

I have actually established my share of websites from platforms to custom-made hosts to cPanel hosting sites, however I had to watch that video several times to make sure I was pointing the right A record/ CNAME to the right IP address.

Again, if you are in WP Engine’s core markets, the custom-made backend isn’t going to be a substantial offer (as soon as you get past the learning curve). But for many, you’ll likely get to find out very first hand about WP Engine’s support team.

However here’s the thing.

WP Engine never truly stops being wacky and complex. In their knowledgebase, they have a myriad of website checklists to assist troubleshoot all sorts of concerns.

And ” if you did not setup your DNS exactly how they’ve recommended ” your site could go down at any time.

Once again– they have reasons that they do all this. And in most cases, support will just take care of all of it.

But, you still don’t get to set & forget your site. Sure, you do not technically don’t have to enter into the weeds of a server panel. In lots of hosting cases (ie, a managed VPS), you don’t have to do it anyway, when you do, the knobs and buttons are familiar. Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

Limited Versatility

This con is likewise related to WP Engine’s special setup. In order to run their architecture in addition to possible, all the installs on their platform have to be somewhat consistent.

They have to have predictable plugins; predictable visitor patterns; predictable use cases. Every hosting business has guidelines (or very genuine physical limitations), however WP Engine goes a bit more to define what you can and cannot have on your WordPress install in addition to tiered overage pricing to discourage seasonal traffic spikes and local storage usage.

They do ban certain plugins & admin behavior for good reasons, however those restrictions restrict flexibility and experimentation if your site could manage it.

For example, Yet Another Associated Post Plugin is a typical plugin. It’s resource extensive, however on smaller sized websites, it gets the job done well. It’s not permitted on WP Engine. That’s bad or bad necessarily. But it does make WP Engine less versatile and open up to experimentation compared to running a shared or VPS server.

The method their pricing is structured allows for less adaptability as well. It’s a favorable that they will manage all the traffic you can send out, but it’s likewise pricey to pay based on a variety of visits.

If you are running a big launch; are a seasonal service; or simply want to drive a surge of traffic to your site, you’ll need to factor additional hosting bills into the mix. That puts a cap on how flexible you want to be with your marketing.

If you are running a lean cached site on a VPS server, you can manage a lot more traffic than WP Engine would allow on an Individual or Business. And this point goes further if your website needs numerous plugins for complete performance.

The same goes for storage. With WP Engine, you are spending for performance, not for storage. So if you are planning to utilize a server for media storage … that utilize case is out.

In addition, you cannot really do automated email marketing projects from WP Engine. This was something that my customer got called for & ended up needing to do an unpleasant migration to another e-mail company mid-campaign.

And obviously, there’s no way to use WP Engine for receiving email or any non-WordPress software application task.

In either case, that point segues into the last con I found with WP Engine, their prices based upon functions.

Pricing on Features and Usage

With WP Engine, you are typically spending for efficiency & not needing to think excessive about maintenance, security & speed. If you look at WP Engine’s prices based on the functions you’re getting, you actually do not get a lot.

And if you are the type who will think of your website’s health anyway (ie, keeping WordPress updated and typically logging in often), you’ll likely be spending for “management” that is unnecessary. Wp Engine Maintenance Mode

Lots of shared hosting servers can handle the same traffic numbers as WP Engine and cost a portion of the cost. My personal site (working on a shared hosting plan from HostGator with basic caching) managed more than 15,000 check outs in a 24 hour period when a post of mine went viral.

And if you are running a trusted VPS, you can definitely handle a lot more for much less.

They are relatively transparent about how they count check outs, however it can still be rather a surprise for “small” website owners how rapidly they can enter the $290 monthly tier.

And as mentioned previously that doesn’t even include a lot of the functions you do not get with WP Engine’s strategies. You can’t run any e-mail from your servers. You have low limitations on local storage. Anything above the limitations needs extra costs & technical implementation of Amazon cloud services.

And most significantly for me, you are restricted on your installs. If you have a few side tasks or low-traffic test websites, you need to factor those into the price. You can’t use them to expand the cost of your plan,particularly if you are hitting your visitor cap instead of your install cap.

If you are wanting to spend for hosting: ie, a server that will hold & serve up your site files, WP Engine is an expensive alternative, specifically compared to other non-managed hosting choices.

Next Steps

Like any service, it’s not about exactly what is best general, but exactly what is finest for you based on your goals, budget, resources & routines.

If you remain in exactly what I think of as WP Engine’s core markets, they offer a great service with a solid item. Their prices is competitive in the Managed WordPress Hosting space, and they provide more functions than “WordPress hosting” plans from other hosting brands. Their feature-set is unequaled for savvy DIYers, WordPress site designers and/or high-traffic sites that don’t wish to worry about hosting concerns.

If handled hosting is a suitable for you, then go take a look at WP Engine’s plans here.

They do a 60-day money-back guarantee. So do a test set up and see exactly what you think about their backend. Be sure to talk w/ support & sales.